This invention relates to a building construction tool, and more particularly to a jig (also referred to herein as a gripper/stabilizer) which can be used and reused many times in construction projects for the purpose of gripping, stabilizing and properly positioning a stem-wall anchor bolt in a wet, curing building material, such as concrete.
In the construction of many buildings, near the base thereof there is typically formed a stubby, upright stem wall which sits on top of a footing. It is usually the case that both the footing and the stem wall are formed by pouring and curing concrete, with stem-wall construction occurring via the aid of elongate, lateral construction formers (or form elements), typically wooden boards, which both define the opposite (inside and outside) sides of such a stem wall, and as well, the location for the plane of the upper surface of the stem wall.
Usually provided in and distributed along such a stem wall are plural, elongate anchor bolts whose cylindrical and threaded, upright upper ends extend above the top surface of the wall to provide tie-down or anchor points for building frame structure which is next to be built (on top of the stem wall). A mispositioned, misplaced or misangled anchor bolt presents a significant problem, inasmuch as it is usually required to be xe2x80x9ctherexe2x80x9d in defined locations and orientations, and with a required upward projection for attachment access, in order to meet building code requirements. An improperly located, positioned or angled anchor bolt presents a problem which is costly to remedy.
People who are generally familiar with the building environment just briefly described will recognize that the activity involved in placing required anchor bolts properly can be relatively long and involved, and if not performed carefully can result in very expensive and time-consuming xe2x80x9creworkxe2x80x9d.
The present invention addresses these matters in a very simple, practical and satisfactory manner by providing a versatile, selectively reusable jig which enables rapid, accurate placement and stabilization of anchor bolts in a wet mass of concrete (typically) which is formed and is curing as part of a construction project. Such a wet, curing mass is also referred to herein with the phrase xe2x80x9cconstruction-receiving materialxe2x80x9d.
Other anchor-bolt jig systems have been proposed in the past, and several of these systems are illustrated and described in the following U.S. patents whose disclosures are hereby incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,734 to Encino et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,356 to Adams, U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,818 to Garwood, U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,436 to Delgado, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,224 to Adams and U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,188.
These patents furnish appropriate background information and material regarding the field of the present invention. None of the devices disclosed in these several issued patents, however, offers the features that are made available by the invention.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the proposed reusable anchor-bolt jig is formed of a suitable molded plastic material as a single integrated unit. It is very easily and very inexpensively so fabricated, and because of the fact that it is especially designed for long-term reusable capability, it reduces construction costs in one important sense by not having to be thrown away or destroyed after a single use.
The preferred embodiment of the invention includes an elongate, hollow, generally circular-cross-section, longitudinally slightly tapered receiver tube which has its lower, larger-diameter end joined to a generally planar base, or support footing, which includes an elongate, laterally-extending gauge finger. The upper, smaller-diameter end region of the receiver tube includes at least one, but preferably two, opposing, elongate throughwall, single-open-ended slots which offer at least two very important advantages that are made available by the present invention. One of these advantages is that this slot, or these slots, allow(s) for elastic deformation in the upper end of the receiver tube which, when utilized in an appropriately tapered structure, promotes easy, releasable gripping of the upper cylindrical, threaded end of a conventional anchor bolt within the receiver. Additionally, the one or more slots furnish(es) visual exposure of the received upper end of an anchor bolt. With such a slot (or slots) exposing the upper end extremity of an anchor bolt, and through an organization of suitable, associated linear marker structure which is presented along the side of at least one of these slots, correct vertical positioning of an anchor bolt (for example, projection from the upper surface of a stem wall) can quickly and easily be established by a construction worker. The inside surface of the receiver may, if desired, be formed with a roughened surface (surface-frictioning structure) to enhance the jig""s bolt-gripping capability. Further, and also if so desired, the outer surface of the receiver tube may have a roughened quality to promote easy gripping in the field.
The extending gauge finger in the base is also preferably furnished with another suitable organization of linear marker structure. This base defines a support datum surface for the vertical placement of an anchor bolt. It does this easily and precisely with that base resting on the upper surface of, for example, a forming concrete stem wall. Marker structure in the finger can be used to define quickly and very conveniently the appropriate lateral position of an anchor bolt relative to the opposite side surfaces of a stem wall. Still further, the pre-defined angular relationship which exists in the jig between the generally planar base or footing, and the upright receiver tube, positively defines the desired correct angular orientation (typically vertical) of the upper end of an anchor bolt relative to the stem-wall mass which embeds it.
While a device built in accordance with this invention including in the base but a single extending gauge finger is entirely satisfactory in most use situations, a modified form of the invention could include, for example, another elongate, extending gauge finger aligned longitudinally with the first-mentioned finger, and disposed on the diametrally opposite side of the receiver tube.
Breakaway notches formed selectively at predetermined spatial intervals along the length of the finger allow convenient breaking-away of an outer length portion of the finger to enable use of the jig in a setting where the poured top surface of a stem wall sits below the upper edges of the usual two formers which define that wall.
When an installation is complete, and the building material (such as the concrete mass in a stem wall) has formed and hardened, it is a very simple matter to pull upwardly on the jig of this invention to free it readily and non-destructively from its associated anchor bolt, thus making the jig available handily for recurrent use. Because of the tapered configuration preferably employed in the receiver tube, plural jigs can readily be stacked-nested for convenience and compactness of transport.
Various other important features and advantages that are made available in accordance with the present invention will become more fully apparent as the description that now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.